Halloween Ruckus
by Nehszriah
Summary: It's a Halloween themed Baccano fiction originally conceptualized for a contest. Nonlinear stories are always more fun. T for language and substance abuse on the account of Ladd... and a little Czeslaw ownage.


**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own _Baccano!_ or anything else potentially copyrighted that is mentioned in this fan fiction.

**SPOILERS**: Uh, all of it... I guess... if you were able to keep track of the storyline.

**NOTES**: I had planned on posting this for the Halloween Jam over on theotaku (dot) com, but I fell asleep when I should have worked on it instead. Trust me, college bites sometimes. Also, I am not breaking this up into chapters, since it is pointless to in this format. The storytelling of _Baccano!_ is kinda too nonlinear for chapters.

...and I know that Czeslaw has the ability to grow up mentally. Claudia was **_CREEPY_**, thank you.

Originally published on theotaku (dot) com under the same username on November 1, 2008, super early in the morning Eastern Standard Time.

Halloween Ruckus

**2008**

The door to the modest apartment burst open with a clamor. The couple who entered, merrily ignored the clanging noise the witch-shaped door-hanging made as it fell off and onto the floor and proceeded to wander about the apartment.

"Ennis! Czes!" they shouted. "We have arrived!"

"Czeslaw isn't here," Ennis said as she came from the kitchen. "Miria, Isaac, you are early; he's not due back home for another two hours."

"Aww…!" Isaac frowned. "We wanted to take your little brother to the pumpkin patch!"

"Yeah! We had so much fun the last time!" Miria chimed in. "Where did he go?!"

"With Firo and Maiza," Ennis answered plainly as she picked up the door-hanging from the floor. It was of a cute plush ghost and a wreath of leaves around it that Firo had bought for her.

"Well, I guess it cannot be helped," Isaac said. He flopped down onto the couch, resting his hands behind his head.

"Cannot be helped," Miria imitated, copying Isaac's movements as well. Ennis just smiled; it was good to have them around again. "Where did they go?"

"A game, I believe," Ennis replied. "There is supposed to be a large number of people to turn out for it."

"Ah, a football game!" Isaac said with glee. "Firo and Maiza are making sure your little brother knows about such manly things as football, aren't they!?"

"They're making Czes into a man!" Miria squealed. Ennis rolled her eyes and sighed. It did not matter that Czeslaw had been her little brother for over fifty years; he was still her kid brother to them.

**1913**

"Hey! Did you hear the news?!" Keith yelled as he burst into the parlor the day after Halloween. "The old part of the city burned the rest down last night!"

"No way!" Berga gasped. "We were just there!"

"I know!" Keith replied. "I heard it from Dick and Sammy; they live a block away from where it happened you know."

"I wonder how that happened," Luck asked, fiddling with the cards in his hands. He looked over at Claire and the two boys smiled. Not another word to another soul. Besides, Berga and Keith would beat on them real good.

"What're you two smiling about?" Berga snapped, noting the behavior of his youngest brother and their friend. "You know something about it, don't you?"

"Nope," Claire and Luck said simultaneously. They shook their heads vigorously, denying they ever knew a thing.

**1956**

"Too bad you have to go home, _baby_," the boys teased as the little girl who went with them to the movie theatre ran up to the porch of her house. They laughed as they all walked down the lane, all contemplating on what to do next.

"I don't think you should've made her see that movie," Czeslaw said. "She was really scared."

"Ah, she's just chicken," the one boy said. "Let her be like that. No one's stopping her from leaving."

"…but really, you should be nicer."

"Czes, get out of the street."

"No. I think you should really stop teasing her like that."

"Come on Czes, we're gonna go raid a cornfield next."

"You guys shouldn't treat her that way!"

"CZES! LOOK OUT!"

Czeslaw looked to his left and almost instantly he was hit by a large truck. The driver, too drunk to see straight, kept on going, leaving the child splattered upon the broken pavement. The other boys screamed, not sure about what to do. Eventually, they ran headlong for the town; they were sure to find someone there who could help.

What they did not notice, however, was the fact Czeslaw was somehow being placed back together. It was going to be a sore surprise for them when they take the sheriff out to the place of the accident, only to find that Czeslaw had already gone home.

**1979**

Nice took a step into the bathroom and wrinkled her nose. She glared at Jacuzzi, who was admiring his brown suit in the vanity mirror. His hair was no longer the silver it had long been, but was a warm brown color. A fake moustache of the same hue sat upon his upper lip, making him fully look like a man at least twenty years younger. He had even taken some of Nice's makeup and covered his sword tattoo so that it completely disappeared.

"What is that awful smell?" Nice asked.

"The hair dye," Jacuzzi said.

"You bought that disgusting off-brand dye at the store, didn't you?"

"They only have this stuff out once a year; it's not like I know what the brand name is," Jacuzzi replied. "Relax Nice; I've got this one under control."

"You better," she replied, making sure he didn't wash his hands with one of the jack-o-lantern-shaped soaps. "I'm never going to hear the end of this year if you don't."

"They let it go… didn't they?" Jacuzzi smiled. "…besides, I've been practicing." He gave Nice a blank stare and let out an eerie, high-pitched scream.

Nice rolled her eyes. "You do know this means one more year of _**me**_ putting up with this nonsense from the neighbors then?" Jacuzzi kissed Nice quickly before exiting the bathroom, only to come back and poke his head through the doorway.

"Where's that giant zucchini I bought at the State Fair last weekend?"

"Icebox. Also take tissues; you'll start crying after scaring about four kids."

"Thanks."

**1711**

The ocean wind was quick and harsh against the skin of those aboard the _Advena Avis_. It was an unusually brisk day in Boston harbor for the time of year, but there were not many in the wharf that seemed to mind.

"Elmer!" shouted one of the men standing on the dock the _Advena Avis_ was being moored to. The ship captain jumped off the side of the ship and onto the pier to embrace the man in laughter.

"Timothy! How have you been?" he asked. "I do hope you have those plots of land we requested."

"Of course," Timothy smiled. "I have to warn you though, stay away from the neighbors; they're a little nervous about alchemists."

"I know some of these people are skittish."

"That's putting it lightly. The surrounding area's still reeling from those trials they had almost twenty years ago, especially around Halloween."

"So this is Timothy Bidonet: the man who so graciously assisted us in coming over," Maiza chuckled as he walked down the gangplank. "It is an honor to finally meet you."

"Same here, Maiza Avaro, I presume?" Timothy reached out to shake Maiza's hand. "Tell me, where is that bright young man you were telling me about in your letters?" Maiza fell silent; he had not yet thought of an alibi as to why there was less on the ship than originally accounted for.

"There was an unexpected storm," Sylvie interrupted as she too disembarked from the ship. "Some of the crew fell overboard. Gerd was one of them…"

"I am sorry," Timothy said, bowing his head in respect. "The sea is a nasty force when travelling through the Elements. I am glad that most of you made it, however, particularly you, young lady."

"Thank you," Sylvie responded morosely. She glanced over at Elmer and Maiza, both of whom appeared a combination of dumbfounded and grateful, and asked politely, "Would you mind if I went to our temporary home while the crew is unloading our things?"

"I don't mind," Maiza said. "You shouldn't do much anyways."

"You went through the same thing."

"…but someone should watch Czeslaw."

"Just put on a smile, Sylvie," Elmer said. "All you need to do is smile."

**1913**

"Come on you two! The house isn't gonna explore itself!" the larger of the two boys in the lead yelled back at the ones who were lagging. Claire and Luck were not pleased with the face that Berga and Keith were leaving them behind again; it happened any time the elder two Gandor brothers wanted to do anything fun.

This time, however, Claire and Luck caught them before the two had a chance to escape unnoticed. All four were headed towards the old part of the city, where a fire had torn through ten years prior. It was the premier place for exploring for all those under the age of twelve.

"Wait up you guys!" Luck yelled. He nearly tripped over his own oversized shoes trying to keep up with his brothers.

"Yeah! We wanna go too! Stop trying to outrun us!" Claire demanded.

"We're not even trying!" Keith shouted. "Berga's right; the house is never gonna be explored if we have to wait for you two!"

Luck began sniffling while he ran, a sure sign to Claire that he was angry with his brothers. The boy thought for a moment—then stopped.

"What are you doing Claire?" Luck asked, noticing his friend had halted dead in his tracks. Claire had a vicious smile on his face… one he did not use extensively until he changed his name.

"Let's show your brothers not to treat us like we're nothing special."

**1939**

"You sure?" the policeman asked as he prodded the body with his foot. He did not like cemeteries, particularly any time around Halloween, but was stuck in one anyways investigating a rogue corpse. "I mean, it's not possible he's still alive, is he?"

"I doubt it," the groundskeeper grumbled. "He's got two fifths of the real good stuff; the shit people buy for weddings and crap like that. If he drank that all in one night, then he drank himself dead."

"Are you sure?" the officer asked, raising his eye.

"M'cousin did it, and he had a real tolerance for the stuff."

"Well, at least he had the decency to not let us worry about delivery," the policeman said. He walked away to the car where his partner waited.

"Now look at what you've done, worrying the police like that," the groundskeeper scolded. He tilted his head to the side, wondering about the peculiar position of the corpse. It seemed almost as if he had been staring at something right before he died. The groundskeeper bent down and looked in the direction the corpse was facing, catching a glint in the grass right in front of a headstone.

"Oh, I'm sorry there," he sighed as he finally saw the busted glass lying in the grass he desperately needed to cut. "Wait right here Miss Klein while I go and get a bin so I can lean off your stone nice and neat now."

**1977**

"You kids behave now!" Nice yelled after some children as they left her front porch with more candy than they came with. The screen door opened behind her and the cat ran out onto the lawn.

"Having fun, dear?" she asked.

"I will be," Jacuzzi replied. His heavy boots clunked on the wooden planks of the porch in hollow THUNK-THUNK-THUNK's. Stopping right before he passed Nice, Jacuzzi stood still—only slightly behind her. The lone sound coming from him was that of amused tears; the grown man was trying his hardest to not laugh.

"Whoa! That's a really cool statue you got there lady!" a group of kids giggled in awe as they ran up to Nice. They stared at Jacuzzi, who was perfectly still, with mouths agape. The entire costume was black, cape, helmet and all. In his hand was a long, thin baseball bat that had been painted black at the handle and red on the rest. A mask covered Jacuzzi's face, hiding the silent tears that contained his laughter.

"I'm glad you like him," Nice smiled while she placed some candy in each child's bag. "I see one of you is dressed like Luke; am I right?"

"Yeah!" piped up the smallest boy, who was no more than eight. "I'm Luke and you killed Obi-Wan! Meanie!" The kid lunged at Jacuzzi with his own painted stick, still thinking the man was a statue… which probably explained why the child screamed when Jacuzzi parried the blow.

"You sent me off into the reaches of space! Prepare for revenge!" Jacuzzi yelled, chasing the screaming children. Nice laughed as she watched the kids get chased around the neighborhood. Before long, it became a neighborhood-wide affair, engulfing everyone and anyone not perched up on a porch-step.

About an hour later, the infamous Old Man Splot would return home after another successful Halloween of causing trouble. It was something that the rest of the adults dreaded every year, but the children looked forward to.

**1956**

"THEM! THEM!" the little girl on the screen shrieked. Czeslaw squirmed in his seat at the sound of the shrill screaming. His companions seemed just as unnerved; one even began to whimper.

"Czes, I'm scared," whispered the little girl in the seat next to him. She had been insisting on a Bible movie when the group was standing in front of the cinema, but the boys would not have any of it. Instead, the other boys, who obviously outnumbered her five to one, chose a giant-insect movie. Czeslaw was not too thrill himself, but went with it anyways; Maiza did want him and Ennis to "blend in" after all.

"Chicken!" one of the boys teased as the girl clutched onto Czeslaw's arm when a gargantuan mutated ant attacked a woman. "You're such a little baby!"

"Am not!" the girl retorted. Czeslaw watched as the boy smirked into his soda. He looked from the boy, to the girl on his arm, back to the boy and frowned. If this was the spirit of Halloween, giant ants and making girls cry, he wanted nothing of it.

**1913**

"It looks like we lost 'em," Berga said as he scanned the horizon. "Those babies weren't cut out for this kind of stuff."

"This was a great idea," Keith chuckled as he hopped up onto the creaky wooden porch. "I think this is the first time in years we haven't had the two of them tagging along everywhere we went."

"Yeah; this is just swell," Berga laughed as he joined Keith up on the porch. Carefully, they waltzed into the abandoned house with little worry about what await them. The house was sagging and grey, burnt crisp on the one side that caught fire. No cloth covered the pell-mell furniture and there was clear sign of feral animals having broken into the residence.

"I-I-I dunn-n-no 'bout this place anymore Berga," Keith shivered, noticing the sun was going down. The light in the house was becoming increasingly dim by the second. The younger brother began rummaging through a drawer for a candle and matches. "Doesn't look like we have anything to light the place up with."

"Then maybe we should go back," Berga agreed, his voice shaking.

Suddenly, there was a creaking sound accompanied by footsteps. Berga and Keith looked behind them, shaking in fear. The footsteps became louder and heavier with each repeat of the gait.

A sharp groaning noise came from the hall. Nearly petrified, the boys peeked in from their spot in the kitchen. A tall white ghost was standing in the doorway, glowing ominously and marching right towards them. With a scream, they ran out the back door and never stopped until they reached the safety of their own home.

"Ha!" Claire laughed as Luck pulled the sheet down. Claire had been sitting on Luck's shoulders, holding a candle very carefully underneath to look like a spooky glow. "That was great!"

"Yeah! We sure did fool them!" Luck chuckled.

"Here, hold the candle while I get down."

"Okay—ouch!"

As Claire handed Luck the candle, the hot wax dripped on the latter's hand, forcing him to recoil and drop the candle. It landed on the dusty sheet and ignited quickly.

"Uh-oh."

**2008**

"We're back!" Isaac and Miria sing-songed as they burst in the door. The plush-ghost wreath fell down to the ground again upon impact with the wall in protest once again.

"Did you have a good time?" Firo asked. He was sitting on the couch with one arm around Ennis, watching some Halloween special he had seen many years ago.

"Why yes!" Isaac announced. "Bring in the pumpkin, Czes!"

"Yes Czes! The pumpkin!"

In from the hallway, Czeslaw rolled a large pumpkin into the apartment. The vegetable came up to his shoulder and was by far the largest anyone in the room had ever seen.

"Where did you get that?" Ennis asked.

"Not telling," Czeslaw smiled.

"You three are incorrigible, you know that?" Firo sighed, standing up and stretching. He smirked and raised his eyebrow in an amused fashion. "Well, are we going to carve this thing or what?"

"Yeah!" Czeslaw, Isaac and Miria all cheered.

**1939**

Ladd sat in a cemetery, his back against a gravestone and a bottle of whiskey in one hand. The crisp autumn wind sent a chill through him. The weather did not care he was drunk and threadbare, or that he had used his last quarter getting there. The wind through the trees howled, the rats skittered about and the man began draining the warming fifth.

"I thought you loved me, Lua," he grumbled, his words slurring.

"I do love you," Lua replied. Ladd glanced to his left and saw she was sitting next to him, still in that crème-colored dress he last saw her in. "I love you more than anyone or anything."

"Then why didn't you let me kill you?"

Lua sat silently for a time while Ladd finished off the rest of the bottle. He threw it against the headstone in front of him; glass shattered into thousands of little pieces against the rough stone slab. Lua leaned in close to Ladd's ear as he closed his eyes and whispered.

"…it was because I love you."

"Bull." Ladd let his chin slump down to his chest and was alone once more.

**1977**

"Waugh!" Jacuzzi gasped, jumping back from the small child. Tears began to well up in his eyes at the sight of the cloaked little boy and the green stick he carried. The boy looked at Jacuzzi curiously, contemplating what he possibly could have done.

"What's the matter, mister?"

"Just ignore him, dear," Nice said with a smile. She dropped a piece of candy into the boy's pillowcase, allowing him to run back down to the sidewalk where his elder sister grouchily waited.

"I never did like this holiday," Jacuzzi said as he sat down on the porch stoop next to Nice. "I'm jumpy as it is."

"Relax," Nice sighed. "You're not as young as you used to be. It's not like the kids are dressed up like Rail Tracer or anything."

"Thanks, Nice," Jacuzzi sniffled. "We were what, seventeen then?"

"You were eighteen, I was nineteen."

"Right."

Soon, a sizable gaggle of children headed towards the two, all dressed in similar robes and carrying green sticks. Jacuzzi stared at them while Nice gave them candy. Of course, Jacuzzi understood what motion picture they were all mimicking, yet was rather perplexed at the thought of all these children having seen the same film that nearly made him mess himself in fear at the theatre.

"Nice?"

"Yeah, Jacuzzi?"

"I'll be right back."

Nice smiled as she watched Jacuzzi enter their modest suburban home from over her shoulder. It was going to be a long night.

**1956**

"Wha'dda mean ya never celebrated Halloween?" the boy asked, utterly astounded. The other children around him and the resident new kid gaped in awe.

"I never celebrated Halloween before," Czeslaw said frankly. "My sister doesn't understand it, so I don't bother."

"Where did you two live before this, under a rock?" the only girl asked. "Everyone celebrates Halloween."

"We didn't." Czeslaw was becoming defensive. Although he did have fun blending in with the children his assumed age, they often grated on his nerves.

"Don't worry Czes! We'll teach you all about Halloween, just so that you can tell your sister!" the girl said. She grabbed Czeslaw's arm and smiled. "Everything'll be just fine!"

"What should we do first?" asked a boy, one different from the first. The kids looked at one another, not quite sure about how to solve this conundrum, until the first boy spoke up.

"We're going to the pictures."


End file.
